I'm surprised nobody has made the comment in support of the move of AA to south hall which is that there was more space ...

We had more space, sure, but that's about where the advantage ends. Speaking as an artist that was there open to close all weekend, the primary concern is the health issue. Something was very wrong with the filters in the air conditioning system, and every day a new black film layered over everything. Many people started having severe allergic reactions and asthma attacks. And that's just the health bit - that stuff got into/on all of our wares. Then there was the problem that AA was pretty much forgotten as far as con placement/advertisement went. The 2 signs they placed were helpful, yes, but not everyone on staff knew where we were - and some told attendees we didn't exist at all. The South Hall wasn't even included on the maps with the convention center - further adding to attendee confusion. After that, the list gets petty (lighting, walking distance, etc.).

Don't get me wrong, the extra space was a dream come true. Just all the other negative that went along with it kindof made our space a moot point.

Wow... this is the first time I heard there was a "health issue" - that MUST be resolved for all future events that use that space.

I LOVED the larger space and was surprised at how many artists booths there were.

If the tent is to be used for AA next year there MUST be many signs... signs in the main convention center and signs on the sidewalk. Perhaps the staff can find some cosplayers to help direct traffic along the sidewalk. Also, the roamers and mobile info people should understand where Artist Alley is before the Con starts... it is surprising to hear that it was not known by many "helpers" as this is a MAJOR part of Fanime.

Again... yay for the large space. I made a lot of new friends and walked away with loads of contacts and commissions.

As I mentioned before, my main problem with the Artist Alley being in South Hall was the poor lighting. It was just not bright enough in there for displaying artwork, especially for people who don't have the best eyesight. My friends agreed and many of the artists we talked to found it annoying. I appreciate the much larger space (and I'm sure the artists do, as well), but the lighting really needs to be turned up if they're going to have it in there again. Artwork really needs good lighting in order to fully appreciate it.

It's all in my todo list already: clean the floor, wind-tunnel effect, low lighting at a bad temperature, and water stations in there. The gears will likely be in motion to confirm the next AA location in a few days. Of course, it may take months to confirm this, but feedback from the artist surveys, the feedback form. the staff, and to a smaller extent the forums will all affect our decisions.

Hi there everyone, I will try my best to express my suggestion without offending anyone. The last few years I have attended Fanime, I realized that despite having multiple dance rooms, they all play the same music. I personally am not quite fond of "EDM" type music and neither are my friends. I tried to get into the groove, but the music went from fast to slow and it had irregular rhythms that my friends and I could not really dance to. It is not to say that this is a bad thing, I just wish that there was another (even if it was tiny) room where we could dance to other music instead. Either a mix of 70's-present American Music or just the top 100 hits from Japan and America from the last 10 years would be nice. I really don't mean to offend, and it's not that this EDM music is bad, it is just not my type of music. What do you guys think?

Hi there everyone, I will try my best to express my suggestion without offending anyone. The last few years I have attended Fanime, I realized that despite having multiple dance rooms, they all play the same music. I personally am not quite fond of "EDM" type music and neither are my friends. I tried to get into the groove, but the music went from fast to slow and it had irregular rhythms that my friends and I could not really dance to. It is not to say that this is a bad thing, I just wish that there was another (even if it was tiny) room where we could dance to other music instead. Either a mix of 70's-present American Music or just the top 100 hits from Japan and America from the last 10 years would be nice. I really don't mean to offend, and it's not that this EDM music is bad, it is just not my type of music. What do you guys think?

More trance! ha ha ha...

How about an ambient chill-room for early morning chill out?? I am available to dj... wink

4. sucked that the artist alley was not in the convention center. because of that i found myself going only twice where as i usually go visit it everyday. i felt as though the swap meet should have been in that building instead (swap meet is my favorite thing at con)

overall is seemed less organized and lower budget despite the increase in attendees

Construction threw alot of things off.... more volunteers are needed. Feel free to help out next year

It would certainly be a big enough space if reg moved to south hall. But I think they would either need to scrub the floors or put something down to cover them because it was very dirty and people like to sit in reg line.

The idea had been thrown out there to get sponsorships and professional help to continue to make Fanimecon successful. Get sponsors willing to give advertising space in the programs and naming rights to events, maybe even a presenting sponsor. With an event that attracts more than 20,000 people, I bet there are some companies willing to listen, even if that company has nothing to do with anime.

Sure it may sound annoying, like how we are with watching commercials on tv, but the reason why there are commercials is to help pay for programming. Fanimecon needs help funding and simply raising registration process isn't going to help.

Hello, if you know of any companies that wish to advertise or sponsor FanimeCon, my email is in my signature.

We work with a variety of companies from various industries and offer plenty of opportunities but not everyone has the budget available to do major advertising. Some companies, just throwing a few out, like Viz Media and Bushiroad sponsored us this year (you saw Viz's ad in the program guide and Bushiroads postcard in your registration bags) so if you know of any other companies that may wish to work with us, send them my way.

Also, now that there is a place to discuss:What can I, personally, do about drunks bothering me? This fellow wasn't harassing me to a large degree, but he was hanging around where he clearly wasn't wanted, followed me, and kept leaning in closer to me. I'm always afraid to say anything directly to someone like that because he was obviously not getting a hint and since I am a fairly small female, I'm always afraid of some type of retaliation. Could I have told a staff member and they could have done something? He wasn't overly bothersome, just...very uncomfortably close. Could he have been kicked out simply for being drunk in the halls? Does staff even care about that these days? The drunkenness in the halls seemed WAY out of hand this year. I'm hoping to get some staff input on this one. I don't have much faith in the staff helping me out much with something like this, since while he made me quite uncomfortable (and followed me out of the room), but wasn't harassing me in the traditional sense, and I've heard plenty of horror stories of Fanime staff not properly addressing this kind of issue, and seeing as no one seemed to care that the boozing seemed 10x worse than ever before, I honestly don't know if staff would even -care- if I brought it up. This is becoming a huge problem, and I might not stay out late at the con in future years if there is this much rampant drunkenness, simply for my own safety and comfort, since things could have been a -lot- worse. (It isn't like this was my first year at the con or staying up late, so I've seen the levels of drinking before and how it was handled before, and there is a marked difference between the past two cons and my ~10 Fanimes before that.)

Hi Nina, staff does enforce the code of conduct, including the harassment and dry con policies. If you have been a victim of harassment by intoxicated individuals, you have every right to report the incident and that person would have been dealt with. As the con grows, there will be growing pains, many of which are increasing numbers of members who may be intoxicated. We highly encourage you to call the number on the back of your badge (the number is a direct line to convention operations) and report these incidents. It's not that staff doesn't care, its just that they can't be everywhere at once. We also have many staff members who are not trained to deal with these situations. You wouldn't want a staff member who was uncomfortable dealing with drunks to confront them either, which is why we have Rovers and specially trained Operations staff handle these types of situations.

I highly encourage anyone reading this thread to remember several key things.

If you have been the victim of harassment during con, report it immediately. Convention Operation's phone number is listed on the back of every badge.

Take down their badge numbers. If someone is harassing you, try to get a name or badge number.

If you have an issue with a staff member, please get their badge number. This helps us pinpoint issues and find responsible parties. Not every staff member who walks the floor is a Rover (people often assume this is the case).

Hi Nina, staff does enforce the code of conduct, including the harassment and dry con policies. If you have been a victim of harassment by intoxicated individuals, you have every right to report the incident and that person would have been dealt with. As the con grows, there will be growing pains, many of which are increasing numbers of members who may be intoxicated. We highly encourage you to call the number on the back of your badge (the number is a direct line to convention operations) and report these incidents. It's not that staff doesn't care, its just that they can't be everywhere at once. We also have many staff members who are not trained to deal with these situations. You wouldn't want a staff member who was uncomfortable dealing with drunks to confront them either, which is why we have Rovers and specially trained Operations staff handle these types of situations.

I highly encourage anyone reading this thread to remember several key things.

If you have been the victim of harassment during con, report it immediately. Convention Operation's phone number is listed on the back of every badge.

[/b]

Take down their badge numbers. If someone is harassing you, try to get a name or badge number.

If you have an issue with a staff member, please get their badge number. This helps us pinpoint issues and find responsible parties. Not every staff member who walks the floor is a Rover (people often assume this is the case).

Actually, I talked with ConOps this year about a similar problem and wanted to point out that the attendee's badges had a number for Rovers this year, NOT ConOps.

I still need to fill out the feedback forum when I'm no longer sick, but I reported someone for drinking inside an event, and nothing was ever done until I left right at the end and reported it to a staff member at the back of the room (I reported it at 11:17pm, and I left and reported the person again at 11:55pm). I'm not certain at that point what should have been done, but I watched as the person's badge was NOT revoked, and they were merely told to leave the room.

As someone who has had friends who run the late night video rooms for years, I will say that I think the issue with drunken behavior this year was worse than in recent prior years. I watched drunks being let in to the rooms because they weren't being "belligerent" but were very vocal.

This is something I will be putting in the feedback: There needs to be more staff able to pull badges. I understand that you don't want everyone to be able to do this, but when the "best" a person can do is to kick them out of a room, you have a problem.

I was just about to mention.. yeah.. attendee badges had the Rovers texting hotline.. they couldn't even call or talk to anyone on the phone as the number to rovers was not connected to a phone. However, the hotline was quick to answer.. and if needed, can be used to send a rover to the person in need of help. I know a few people who needed help from harrassment and texted rovers about it, had people sent to them to get it taken care of.

do not be afraid to text rovers when you need help.

intoxicated people have been the most problematic thing staff has had to encounter over the entire con's history.. (minus registration lines.. sure).. and regardless of Fanime being a "dry convention".. countless people continue to ignore that..

for a staff member to "pull" a badge.. the violation needs to be deemed severe enough... and yes, it can only be done by a limited few. on the other hand, any staff member can confiscate a badge that is either fake, or clearly does not belong to the person that's using it.. the issue on revoking or pulling badges is that not many staff are properly trained or experienced.. and in the end, attendees will "complain" about staff abusing their power or some other nonsense... and then some other staff members will also go power crazy as well if they were given that capability.

having someone who's intoxicated, but cooperative.. is obviously much different than one who's causing trouble. those who aren't causing trouble besides being intoxicated... at that point.. if they are cooperative and take themselves back to their room.. there's no need to reprimand them by pulling their badge... if they require additional reminding... then the issue can be escalated.

if the person is outright belligerent.. then security gets involved and it becomes a more serious issue.. there is always someone awake during the convention that can pull a badge... and when the issue is serious enough, they are called out to do so.

intoxicated people have been the most problematic thing staff has had to encounter over the entire con's history.. (minus registration lines.. sure).. and regardless of Fanime being a "dry convention".. countless people continue to ignore that..

Probably because there is a bar in the first floor of both hotel rooms.

I already filled out the form with everything I think is relevant but I'd like to make a few of the same points here.

The biggest WTF came from the panels staff not being up to date...My friend and I were hosting a panel that got taken from the waitlist and in both the panelist lounge and on the sandwich board outside our panel it listed the cancelled panel that ours was replacing.I'm not sure if this was an issue with other departments but it just seems really weird that they weren't using information from the most current schedule.In the end it wasn't a huge issue; we still had a fun panel with decent attendance but I feel like more people would've been on board had the information been correct.

I really like the use of South Hall!! I really hope it's used again in some way but I totally agree with the whole bad lighting thing aaa

I also really liked the food court since it allowed for more hallway space, plus it was a nice area to escape from the crowds.The hall was definitely very empty but I kind of liked that?

omg yes! the empty space in hall 1 when swap meet wasn't around was really nice.

larger groups that were just lingering around (especially that one night when a group of people with instruments were taking space in the hallway).. Rovers moved them inside Hall 1 and there were no complaints since they had the space, didn't block the hall, and didn't disturb anyone once they were inside because of how much space they had.

the large spin the bottle group that was in there one other day was getting pretty close to getting shut down because they were growing too big... but it never got to that point, and the game was over before any major issues happened. (staff loves people who can self-police themselves).. but yes.. large space in hall 1 was great for that.

then finally when dealer's hall line grew too big and started filling up the hallways.. the line was able to be routed inside hall 1.. that was convenient.

intoxicated people have been the most problematic thing staff has had to encounter over the entire con's history.. (minus registration lines.. sure).. and regardless of Fanime being a "dry convention".. countless people continue to ignore that..

Probably because there is a bar in the first floor of both hotel rooms.

2 bars connected to con and 10 nearby... more if you walk a little longer... in short, alcohol was everywhere but on the concourse-which is the con itself. It was accessible but not provided. It was inevitable that such people would show up.

Logged

if that the master a 'prentice have,Entirely then that he him tell,That he the craft ably may know,Wheresoever he go under the sun.

Feedback I've submitted (via two forms, since I just thought of more feedback recently):

~'Fire Support' staff for Cosplay Spectacular - This year's CS staff worked very hard, but the majority of them were very green. (Some literally did not even know stage directions.) Any further assistance that can be provided to them to minimize CS errors would be awesome.

~Satellite Panel Check-in for Fairmont panels - I was both staying at the Fairmont and hosting a panel in the Gold room there. However, I had to walk over to the Panels lounge in the Marriott to check in for my panel, then walk all the way back to the Fairmont for my panel. That felt really inefficient to me, any chance of having a 'satellite' check-in at the Fairmont ONLY for panels hosted there?

~Additional Registration staff - I would love to staff Registration during Night Zero and (possibly part of) Day One. However, due to distance and other potential event conflicts I'm unsure I could fully join as Reg staff. I do have registration experience at events, if there was a way I could assist even just for the first couple days I would gladly do so (and I'm sure others would as well). My suggestion included a slight reduction in badge cost (maybe $10-$20 or so) or a Starbucks card or similar to reimburse peoples' time.

I hope people realize that FanimeCon is a Con staffed by volunteers. In order for the feedback to be best utilized, a centralized feedback form is best. Critics are always more vocal and I have to remind my staff that may get discouraged and some downright quit based on the negative feedback in the forums. It's hard to get staff willing to put in the time, money, and effort just to get picked apart or trolled here. I can't speak for the con, but I will say, asking people to commit to going to staff meetings and put in the work hours for zero compensation is extremely difficult. Before you just say "something sucks", give a good explanation of why...and perhaps think about why you aren't staffing...?

As for sponsorships, I hope you think it through...people are less inclined to reduce prices or volunteer if they know there is sponsor money coming in....getting more sponsors, raises the minimum run rate price of things and every year you will have to hustle more and more to get additional sponsors while the corporate sponsors give less and less as their ROI decreases. Do you really want a highly commercialized event like some of the other Southern California Conventions which charge additional money for special events?

I'm surprised nobody has made the comment in support of the move of AA to south hall which is that there was more space ...

Yes, we realize that it's volunteers. That's the first thing most people mention in defense of any negative comments anyone points out here or at con. Usually in the context of "well X would have worked fine if we had more volunteers" though we do also hear "don't be hard on staff because their all volunteer" and "if you don't like what staff does, why don't you volunteer" and more. To address the last one I mentioned, quite simply, not everyone wants to volunteer. I know that I personally do not. It doesn't appeal to me and I'm an artist, so I wouldn't have the time at con to be of any help. That doesn't stop me or any other con goer for doing things like give directions or helping out or grabbing Rovers or medics for other attendees we see in need. And how exactly do you differentiate between 'staff' and normal 'volunteers'? I can't say that I've ever understood that.

Also, congoers who do elaborate cosplays and artists alike put in time, money and effort to what they will be bringing to con. Many of the cosplayers only reward is to be told how amazing they look. Isn't that similar to what staff would hear (something like, "Hey, great con!") if we didn't have issues that we wanted addressed? The intangible reward of verbal congratulations? And many of those who have posted have tried to give you explanations as to why! I know that I did. I gave you three pages worth of responses and explanations on the form that we were constantly being directed to. I posted the link to the form on my facebook, tumblr, and in the AA facebook page because I wasn't sure when staff would have time. And here's a link someone else had posted to an actual report of the con: http://www.usagichan2.com/Fanime2013/

You don't want sponsors because that will just start Fanime on the path to corp-con? Fine, then don't do that. Why not capitalize on your existing partnerships and friendships with the local downtown businesses that benefit from the influx of thousands of people? I pretty sure none of them want to see Fanime decline, fail, or move. They would like to see it continue to grow I sure.

Now to get to that last line. I have seen plenty of people post how they like the location of Artist Alley. By and large it seems to be non-artists saying that, but there are artists who liked it as well. For me as an artist the only good thing was more space behind the table. That's it. People at my table did experience allergies and health issues that many people have mentioned. I also felt separated from the rest of the con. Honestly, it surprised me how much an extra block made a difference. Normally, I would be able to do other things at con such as dealer's hall, gatherings, gamer's hall, and some other things. This year I was able to scrape some time to blaze through dealer's hall so that I wouldn't be away too long. I got to go to one gathering. I went to the Spectacular and later left for reasons I've stated on the form. Before it's said "but you could have gone back to con after AA closed!" yes that's true except that after dinner had been achieved I was back in my hotel room working on items for the table. Once I'd finished that it would be late and I'd be really tired, since I'd been up quite early to put on my costume, eat, and get to the table before the hall opened to the public. It was much easier to squeeze in some of these other activities when AA was in the main con space.

Finally, traffic was down, no one seemed to know where we were, and there wasn't any water in the hall unless we brought our own until mid-Saturday. Those were constantly empty. I am most vehemently against having Artist Alley in South Hall next year. I have offered my suggestion for this on the form. I don't want another con where I feel like it was an utter waste of my time, effort and money to make items for my table or to go at all. Because at the end of this con that is how I felt! That it had been an utter waste only just saved by seeing some friends I only see at con. Otherwise, I'm in the red this con both financially and emotionally. I don't know if it really affects staff when they hear that long time con goers say they won't be coming back. I'm not quite there yet. I'm willing to give the con another shot, but if next year can't improve then I can't say I'd return. And that is not something I'm happy to say, especially as a former local who use to have such pride in the convention!

I'd like to ask staff how would you fix the issues with Fanime. I'm pretty sure you heard all of our sides, but what about your ideas that you wish to share to us, if possible.

Also, with all of the posts saying that this is their last Fanime, or they are not coming back, or they are not recommending Fanime, or whatever, how do you respond to those and what are you planning to do to win them back for next year and years to come?

Hi Nina, staff does enforce the code of conduct, including the harassment and dry con policies. If you have been a victim of harassment by intoxicated individuals, you have every right to report the incident and that person would have been dealt with. As the con grows, there will be growing pains, many of which are increasing numbers of members who may be intoxicated. We highly encourage you to call the number on the back of your badge (the number is a direct line to convention operations) and report these incidents. It's not that staff doesn't care, its just that they can't be everywhere at once. We also have many staff members who are not trained to deal with these situations. You wouldn't want a staff member who was uncomfortable dealing with drunks to confront them either, which is why we have Rovers and specially trained Operations staff handle these types of situations.

I highly encourage anyone reading this thread to remember several key things.

If you have been the victim of harassment during con, report it immediately. Convention Operation's phone number is listed on the back of every badge.

Take down their badge numbers. If someone is harassing you, try to get a name or badge number.

If you have an issue with a staff member, please get their badge number. This helps us pinpoint issues and find responsible parties. Not every staff member who walks the floor is a Rover (people often assume this is the case).

Thank you for the reply.

I didn't mean to insinuate that staff didn't care about their jobs, or that every staff member could handle this, I'm more wondering why there has been a marked increase in drunkenness in the past two years. Is it simply a lack of numbers? I'm wondering how staff can miss people walking around the con not even trying to conceal the alcohol that they are actively consuming. It feels like this particular part of the code of conduct hasn't been enforced as strongly as it has been in the past.

I will keep in mind, if there are Fanimes in my future, the number on the back of the con badge, though it might also be a challenge to get away from someone causing problems for long enough to call. (It can also be difficult to get a name or a badge number off of someone...I've tried to do this before, but I'm not comfortable getting close enough to someone to be able to see and memorize a badge number, so I have never been able to, and I figure that without information like that, reporting it is fairly useless.) I'm also always afraid that staff won't take my complaints seriously or not see it as harassment, so I'm often too afraid to report anything for that reason. Out of curiosity, what is the the procedure if I did report harassment and the individual in question were located? Would they simply be reprimanded? Does that usually stop them from harassing others?

I don't mind people drinking at bars or in rooms and then calmly walking through the con to get back to their rooms or wherever they belong. That's all cool. I have a problem when people get super drunk and then actually try to attend a dry con, disrupting my con experience, or when they shout harassment at me in the halls (thankfully didn't happen this year but was quite a problem last year), try to grab at me inappropriately (again, not a problem this year, but was quite an issue for me last year), sit way too close to me showering me with "compliments" only to leave and then come back to find me again (despite making it clear that I wasn't interested) and follow me out of the room (the incident this year), since those things do impact my con experience and make me feel significantly less safe at the con. I don't want to turn in earlier than I would otherwise just because I'm afraid of being harassed, stalked, or worse by drunks, and I really hope that whatever issues have prevented a stricter enforcement of the dry con policies these past two years are fixed so that I can feel safe at the con late at night again.

These things didn't ruin my con or anything, but if I don't feel like I can be alone inside the con at night anymore, which it is getting to that point, I might stop coming. I'm already feeling like next year is the con's last chance for me (it should also be my last Fanime before grad school, so depending on where I end up, I might not be able to attend after next year anyway), and if the organization issues aren't solved, I feel like I might as well not bother and find another large con to attend, which would be quite unfortunate. (I have had harassment at the con ruin an entire day of the con for me before, though...once when an older gentleman physically grabbed me and pulled me into a crowd so he could inform me that I made good masturbatory material, and last year, when I was so harassed in my Maj. Kusanagi cosplay that I'm actually reluctant to wear it again. The first incident was so quick and so crowded that I couldn't hope to possibly find the guy again, and the second was so MUCH [also from people who weren't con attendees] that it was too much from too many different people to report)

Now I'm wondering how many people get harassed and are made to feel uncomfortable or unsafe at the con, but never actually report it and just handle it themselves. Probably quite a few.

I'm glad that there is at least a phone number on the back of the badges, in case something goes wrong that I feel I can't handle by myself, or in case I am able to get enough information on someone harassing me that there is a chance of them getting caught.

Before I get into it, let me note that I'm sending this (verbatim) to the feedback form so that Fanime's staff can see it. That being said, I just wanted to give other congoers a chance to pitch in.

Since the convention here on the forums I've seen the volunteer/by fans for fans mentality listed as an obstacle to extreme change at the convention. Congoers ask for badges to be mailed out, Fanime folk tell us that they don't have enough volunteers to do the envelope stuffing. People ask for logistics folk to be hired for registration to flow more slowly, we're told that no one is paid on the Fanime staff so that's an impossibility. I've seen posts with regards to the masquerade requesting that someone with experience be brought on as staff, whether to run it or to help train the volunteers- and again, it's shot down under the notion of everyone being volunteers.

I love the fact that Fanime comes from a fan mentality and that it's run by people who are fans of anime. But I am genuinely concerned that Fanime will become strangled by this ideal- maybe not next year, maybe not the year after, but possibly in the future. Even beyond registration, there were apparently many problems (not all of them, mind you) at the con this year that often came back to not enough people or people who didn't have enough training. I'm not doubting the dedication or effort of the volunteers and staff AT ALL, but Fanime is only going to get bigger and bigger. What if more people step down (like with the cosplay spectacular department) and Fanime's left scrambling to find volunteers/staff to fill in that may or may not have the proper experience? The FMV directors stepped down this year. Will there be someone who's qualified to fill that space?

I think most people would agree with me that if Fanime had a handful of people on PAID staff, that it wouldn't ruin the ideals of fanime. Would badge prices have to be raised? Possibly, but even a few dollars per badge with 20,000+ attendees would create quite a budget for such a thing. I'm not going to claim to have any ideas as to raise revenue or how much additional revenue would need to be raised, but I think Fanime needs to open itself to the idea. At this point in time Fanime can't afford to not be a professional-level convention, volunteer-run or not.

I hope this doesn't come off as inflammatory. I want Fanime to thrive. I've been going to Fanime for ages and it worries me to see such major stumbling blocks two years in a row- this time without the outside uncontrollable influence of a power outage to blame. I admire the staff and volunteers for all they do- I just don't want to see Fanime having to choose between its ideals and flourishing as a con. I'm sure there's a middle-ground!